01-04-2012

Wow!  Today was an up and down day. 
Job 2:10 says
"Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?"

Good question.  Sometimes we act like, if God loves us, that life will be nothing but sunshine and roses.  Not a very biblical pattern there.  We are so selfish today as North American Christians.  : )

Today started off well -
- I was able to have money in the bank to take out in order to prep for our trip to Chile
- Most of my clothes are getting really ratty, to the point that even I had to admit it was time to buy something new.  I was able to find some good deals on some clothes downtown and get a couple of new things to wear to the retreat so as not to embarrass my wife or boss
- I was able to get our phones set up to be able to make and receive calls while we are in Chile
- And there were several other small wins as well.

The real downer part: after leaving the mechanics shop with the great expectation that the car would be repaired and ready for travel on Friday morning...he called me back shortly after to say that there had been a mix up with the parts and it would NOT be ready!  What?! 

Hmmm?  How to travel 1,300 miles to the Southern Cone Missionary Retreat on very short notice? 
That is the question. 

Now, not only do we have to pay for the repair to the vehicle later on, but we still have to either try to take a bus or rent a car to get to the retreat - a ton more money than we were wanting to spend.  And I hope there is something available on such short notice. 
Not the answer I was looking for. 
BUT, as Job said - should we expect only good things from God and not problems as well? 
I think not.  Besides, God has it all under control and He will work things out. 

He already has been doing it. 
- He gave us the best tax return of our young lives and so we were able to have money in the bank to be able to do this.
- He enabled us to pay off some debt so we could have room on our credit card to rent a car, hotel, etc.
etc. etc.
I am sure that if I look hard, I will see God's hand all through this thing, even though it is not what we would have wanted.  It is still hard, but it is better than it would have been without all of God's provision!

I have to get to bed.  Just wanted to remember the ups and downs of this day.
Tomorrow has a LOT of miracles to come together.  Better get some sleep so I can get cracking on it tomorrow.  : )

Good night all
God bless -

Paz, paz, y provision -